Burma police on Sunday carried out mass arrests of anti-coup protesters and allegedly killed at least two protesters in the fourth week of unrest since a February 1 military takeover.
The bloodshed took place when the army began cracking down on protests that continued throughout the month after elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested along with President Win Myint and most members of Suu Kyi’s government in a military coup. coup.
Some reports said two protesters in Yangon and Dawei were killed after police fired on protesters, while other reports said at least three people were killed in Yangon.
The number of deaths could not be immediately confirmed independently, reports The Associated Press. Confirming reports of protesters’ deaths was difficult amid chaos and the general lack of official news.
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Police in Yangon, the country’s most populous city, fired tear gas and water cannons as they tried to clear the protesters’ streets. There were also reports of gunshots by police, according to photos of shell casings of live ammunition used in assault rifles and posted on social media.
Protesters shout slogans as police arrive during a rally against the military coup in Mandalay, Myanmar, Sunday 28 February 2021. (Associated Press)
Thousands took to the streets demanding that Suu Kyi be brought to power in defiance of the army’s false allegations of fraud in her victory for a second term of five years.
Sunday’s violence erupted early in the morning when medical students marched in Yangon’s streets near the intersection of Hledan Center, which became the rallying point for protesters then waving to other parts of the city.
On videos and photos, protesters can be seen running away when the police charge them, and residents setting up temporary roadblocks to slow down their march. In the area, residents pleaded with police to release those they had picked up from the street and pushed into police trucks to be taken away. Dozens or more are believed to have been detained.
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Police made use of tougher, preventative actions and tens to hundreds of arrests to suppress disagreement, and much to the Insein prison brought in the northern outskirts of Yangon, which was historically notorious for their continued political prisoners.
According to the Independent Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, 854 people were arrested, charged or convicted at one stage in connection with the coup, and 771 were detained or arrested. The group said that although it had documented 75 new arrests, it understood that hundreds of other people had also been picked up in Yangon and elsewhere on Saturday.
The government also fired its ambassador to the United Nations on Saturday night for condemning the coup – or as the military calls it and ‘betraying’ the country.
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Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun in New York City said Friday he represents Suu Kyi’s “popularly elected civilian government” and supports the anti-coup protests. He called on other provinces to condemn the coup.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.